Saturday, April 30, 2011

They were supposed to take place more than a month ago - in Japan. But then the big quake hit. Although the playing venue in Tokyo was undamaged, in the end it was decided that it was not feasible to for Japan to host the championships amidst the ongoing post-quake crisis.

The ultimate substitute venue chosen was - Moscow! The championships took place beginning on April 24 (I think) and ended today. The big events were held today - the ladies' free skate and, amazingly enough, the final free dance in ice dancing! Who'd have thought that ice dance would become so popular? But with the rise of the North American ice dance teams during the past 10 years or so, interest in the sport here has increased. The duel between the popular (and beautiful) Canadian and American ice dance teams who won Gold and Silver in the last Winter Olympics, coached by the same coaches, training on the same ice in Michigan! No one could write a soap opera better than this.

The bad news: USA crapped out on men's singles, women's singles, and pairs.

The good news is that we won GOLD (second time?) and BRONZE (fourth time?) in ice dancing! Who would have thunk it?

How well I remember being glued to the television when the incredible English dance team of Torvil and Dean electrified the entire world with their performance to Bolero, and won the Gold Medal - kicked the otherwise dominant Russians/Soviet Union out of the stadium with their performance. That was 1984. I watched that performance again tonight at You Tube. It sent shivers up and down my spine and brought tears to my eyes.

Here's the report from The New York Times on Davis and White's incredible performance and first ever (may it be the first of many more to come) gold medals in ice dance for the USA:

It seems like everywhere you look in Shanghai you see people playing “Angry Birds” on their smart phones or tablets. So it’s even more impressive that the visually simple Chinese chess is making a comeback with Chinese youth, thanks to a new reality TV show, and Chinese chess legend Hu Ronghua (胡荣华).
Hu, a master of Chinese chess, started his own show on Hi Sports Channel called “Let’s play Chess together” (“弈棋耍大牌”), calling on Chinese chess fans to audition as his apprentice.

At age 66, Hu, a Shanghai resident, is one of the most brilliant chess players in China and is using this show to appeal to Chinese youth who have slowly turned away from the sport.

Chinese Chess, just a memory?
In the 1980s and 1990s, Chinese chess games drew crowds of spectators in Shanghai's streets, parks and lanes. The interested crowds were a mix of young and old, all captivated by local matches of this traditional game.

A single well-played move could elicit cheers from a crowd. Yet such a long-lived game has lost popularity as Chinese youth turns to online games.

Today there are only a few seniors playing Chinese chess while chatting the day away in local parks and neighborhood gardens, and rarely do crowds gather like they used to.

“Fewer and fewer people are playing Chinese chess compared to a decade ago,” says Hu.

“However, for those who loved to play chess since childhood, this hobby is for ever. Chess is like this, once a love, always a love.”

Hu Ronghua takes an apprentice
To support this national pastime, Hi Sports channel decided to work with Hu on the Chinese chess program “Let’s Play Chess,” which started broadcasting its first season, which runs Monday to Friday 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. for eight weeks, in early March.

“Let’s Play Chess” has a simple premise: it invites people who want to play Chinese chess to face off during each show. Those who show the most promise can earn a coveted apprentice spot. The ultimate winner will go up against Hu himself.

“I don’t want too many people [as apprentices], just maybe five kids, ideally aged between 10 and 14 years old,” says Hu.

As the top name in Chinese chess circles, Hu is never short of potential apprentices, but he says doing a national TV show opens the pool of potential apprentices, instead of only looking at Shanghaining.

“China is too big, it’s too hard to find a non-local kid with potential without using television,” says Hu. “If I hire them through the show, people will gather from across the country. This way it’s more fair.”

In addition to getting Hu a few dedicated students, the TV show he says also serves another purpose: a recruiting call for the Shanghai Chinese chess team which is also looking to add more players to its ranks.

Charm of chess
For ordinary people, Chinese chess may appear to be simple game of black versus red, but Hu explains that there’s much more than that going on, allowing it to compete with even today’s modern games.

“Chinese chess can cultivate one’s mentality," says Hu. “The small chessboard is filled with life’s ups and downs. Seemingly winnable chess might end up in total loss, while losing games might have chances to win back.”

Playing, says Hu, helps people develop skill and patience.

Master Hu says some of the happiest moments in his life came when he thought of a move that nobody else had ever thought of, showing that his years of dedication and patience are paying off.

“That is a top-notch happiness,” he says.

When asked about what criteria he’ll be looking for in potential apprentices, Hu says he’s looking for the people the game has chosen, similar to himself.

Chinese chess advancements
Although Hu’s TV search for new talent is promising, it brings up the question of the future of Chinese chess as local youth look elsewhere for entertainment.

Hu points out that while new technology has pushed the game into a corner, Chinese chess is making its way back, using technology to relaunch the game in China.

For instance, says Hu, if you type in “Chinese chess” in Apple’s app store, there are dozens of Chinese chess apps available, with Tencent QQ's version as one of the most popular, offering the game for both the iPhone and iPad.

Other tech firms like Winger Technology (affiliated with Shanda Interactive) are also coming out with their own mobile versions of the game.

“We have launched special games on smart phones and tablets such as ‘Killers of the Three Kingdoms’ [a version of Chinese chess]. Other chess and card products designed for the mobile Internet are also in development.”

Even Hu’s TV show “Let’s Play Chess” has abandoned the traditional Chinese chessboard. Instead, it mainly uses digital boards.

With all of these advances, Hu seems assured that more young people will discover Chinese chess, in both its traditional or modern form, revitalizing the game in China.

This article was translated by Sarah Chen. Click to see the original article in Chinese.

Middleton's wedding dress pushes orders for RI lace company
By NBC 10 News
Published: April 29, 2011
WEST GREENWICH, R.I. --
Over the past few years the business of lace has taken a major hit. "Depending on fashion, sometimes when lace is not in, we haven't had that many orders and we're not as busy," said Laurie Roberts-Levers of Levers Lace in West Greenwich.

But on Friday morning, lace made a comeback in a big way. "One of the ladies I work with came in and said, 'You have to see it! It has lace on the sleeve and on the bodice,'" Roberts-Levers said.

The moment Kate Middletown walked down the aisle of Westminster Abbey in an Alexander McQueen lace masterpiece, lace companies around the globe knew business just picked up.

Levers Lace plans to fill thousands of orders for designers looking to make wedding dress replicas.

"In our New York office, I'm sure that they will be approached with ideas and they have their own in house designer and I'm sure sales for us will be wonderful," Roberts-Levers said.

A type of Chantilly lace is what's in high demand. It's similar to the lace Middletown wore during the wedding and will be used for many of the replicas. In the meantime, Levers Lace plans to bring in some extra help in order to keep up with the replica demand.

"We dropped from having 35 employees to six, two being my husband and myself. Now we've hired back quite a few more, like 15 people. And now with the wedding (Friday), hopefully it'll pick up even more," Roberts-Levers said.

6th Grand Pacific Open
April 22 - 25, 2011
Sponsored by Victoria Chess
A new undertaking for Goddesschess, we provided a modest prize fund this year for chess femmes playing in the Open. Congratulations to WGM Nino Maisuradze for winning the Open with a perfect score of 6.0/6 - the first player to ever do this.

Here is a report from the organizers:

Well, the dust has settled on the 5th annual Grand Pacific Open. A record attendence was set (again!) at 104 players in the main event. We drew players from Europe, across the US, and across Canada. Something like 20+% of the players were out of province (and 80% not from Victoria). The tournament attracted it's first GM and WGM (the eventual winner) as well as a selection of national (and world) and provincial junior champions.

Side events at the GPO (free for participants in the main event) were again popular and included a scholastic event, active tournament, blitz, and bughouse (or double chess).

As always, the event was held at the Hotel Grand Pacific,, a very nice hotel located in Victoria's Inner Harbour next to the BC legislature and across the street from US ferry connections. All equipment was provided and $4250 in guaranteed prizes. Stay tuned for announcements on next year's event - same place, same time (Easter) 2012, same venue.

A big thank you to those to made donations to support the tournament and to our Sponsors:

The main event was convincingly won by WGM Nino Maisuradze with a 6-0 score with wins against most of the highest rated players. Coming in with 5.5 points for second place was Vancouver junior Loren Brigham Laceste who despite his A class rating,, took out a number of masters and experts.

According to Brian Raymer, our contact at Victoria Chess:

Most registered players yet -- 104 (87 last year)
Most female players
First time a woman has won the GPO (maybe for any other major Canadian chess tournament)
Most US players
Most countries represented

The 2011 GPO has come to a close. WGM Nino Maisuradze won the event with a perfect 6-0 score. She becomes the first person to win the GPO with a perfect score.
Chess femmes who participated and their final standings:

Oldest remains of Caspian Horse discovered in North of Iran
Friday, 29 April 2011 03:17 [Excerpted]

﻿﻿﻿

Caspian horses depicted in relief at Persepolis.

﻿﻿﻿ LONDON, (CAIS) -- During the eighth season of archaeological research in Gohar Tappeh, in the northern Iranian province of Mazandaran, archaeologists have discovered the remains of a horse identified as the Caspian also known as the Māzandarān Horse, the oldest breed of horse in the world still in existence.

The remains were discovered in a cemetery dating back to the late Bronze and early Iron age, around 3400 BCE.

“Due to the form, figure and size of the discovered remains of the horse, we now have the oldest evidence for Caspian horse ancestry at hand”, said Ali Mahforuzi, the director of the archaeological team in Gohar Tappeh.

The Caspian Horse

The Caspian horse or the ‘Kings’ Horse’, was celebrated in ancient Iran as a chariot horse for racing and in battle, and presented to kings and queens as a valuable gift and is known to be favoured by Darius the Great.

The Caspian horse was thought to have disappeared into antiquity, until 1965 when the American wife of an Iranian aristocrat called Louise Firouz went on an expedition on horseback and discovered small horses in the Iranian mountainous regions south of the Caspian Sea.

The number of surviving Caspian horses in Iran is still quite small. In addition, there are only 1300 registered Persian Caspians world-wide, mainly in the US, UK, Germany and Australia. The last export of Caspian horses out of Iran occurred in the early '90s, with a small shipment arriving in Great Britain.

The Caspians are smaller than modern horses at around 11.3 hands compared with a modern racehorse at 16. They have light frames, thin bones, short, fine head with a pronounced forehead, large eyes, short ears and small muzzles. They are very fast, and incredibly strong and spirited, but also have good temperaments, and described by Louise Firouz as “kind, intelligent and willing.”

Georgia will be hosting the championships this year. The EWCC will take place May 6 - 19, 2011 in Tbilsi, Georgia. Official website. The Rapids Championship takes place May 19 - 22, 2011 and I assume there will be time for players from the EWCC who wish to play in the Rapids Championship to get to where they need to go.

It's a very strong playing field - 134 players with some of the best female European players in the world. Host country Georgia has an especially large contingent this year. I will be keeping my eye on Salome Melia (#14 on the start list), Nazi Paikidze (#25) and Narmin Kazimova (#72), who impressed me with her run of wins against much stronger players in the EWCC a few years back. Alexandra Kosteniuk is also playing and will be a force to reckon with after her strong showing in the Russian women's team and blitz championships.

I came across this article Xinuanet, the English-language Chinese daily, and got a good laugh out of the last sentence :) That's right, ladies, you beat those nerds!

TBILISI, April 30 (Xinhua) -- Feelings toward the board game of chess among Georgian women are as split as generation gaps between grandmothers and granddaughters.

The generation-asunder feelings are once more brought forth by the incoming of the 2011 European Individual Women Chess Championship and the 2011 European Individual Women Rapid Chess Championship to the threshold of the South Caucasus country. Georgia is hosting the two events one after the other in early and mid-May.

For the old-timers, chess for women is reminiscent of a Georgian glory, though under the flag of the then Soviet Union. Between 1961 and 1991, two Georgian women reigned the international chess scene for women with 10 successive world championship titles spanning the entire three decades.

For the newcomers, chess for the weaker sex set off the jinx and jitters for them to break through so as to equal even part of the 1961-1991 Georgian glory.

First Nona Gaprindashvili and then Maia Chiburdanidze made their fame not only for reigning the world for three decades but also for being the world's first and second women to gain the title of grandmaster for their expertise and excellence in the game.

Their fame soon spilled out of the chess board. Gaprindashvili has a perfume named after her, with a Tbilisi factory churning out Gaprindashvili perfume in bottles shaped like the chess piece of Queen. Chiburdanidze has several commemorative postage stamps minted for her including a 1986 one by Mongolia to depict one of her famous moves in the world championship games.

Be it the dissolution of the former Soviet Union or the political and economic ups and downs, Georgia has experienced 20 years of oblivion through a drought of medals of any hue in women chess actions.

Gia Giorgadze, president of the Georgian Chess Federation, said while explaining the backstep: "Speaking on this setback we have to take into account one important circumstance such as a painful process of changing of generations."

The absence of Chiburdanidze from the Georgian squad led to a below-par performance at last year's Chess Olympiad as against the Chiburdanidze-paced Georgian team for the previous Chess Olympiad.

Yet such young talents as Salome Melia and Bella Khotenashvili produced some brow-lifting performances at the last Chess Olympiad held in Russia.

Spearheaded by top-seeded Nana Dzagnidze, the Georgian trio are expected by compatriot chess lovers and admirers to revive to some extent and even to restore to the full the Georgian glory in women chess games by making the most of their home advantage.

But chess pundits in Georgia cannot be just too optimistic, in that Georgia enters this year's European championship with none who has ever taken any medal from the annual event which was inaugurated in 2000 in the Georgian Black Sea resort of Batumi. The Georgians took two bronze medals from the 2000 and 2001 championships but these medallists do not play this year.

If they truly want to triumph on home turf, the Georgian women chess players, especially the leading trio, will have to beat their own nerves and nerds first before they can hope to beat their opponents en route to taking their first European medals after a hiatus of a full decade.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

I just had to get these games posted. When the video is available at uschesschamps.com for these two games I'll post that, but in the meantime, here are the two rapid play-off games from earlier today in PGN. The second game is the one where Tatev seemed to be losing and then, at the last second (or so it seemed), somehow things switched around and she was marching a black pawn down the board to Queen! I still can't believe what I saw! She won the game, thus forcing play to the final Armageddon game!

Sabina Foisor! A full announcement was made at the chess blog of our judge, GM Alexandra Kosteniuk. Our sincere congratulations to WGM Foisor!

It was a very tough decision this year because so many of the women played tough uncompromising chess and just never gave up, no matter how "doomed" their games seemed to be. How many times did Krush, Zatonskih and Abrahamyan pull wins out of seemingly lost positions? It was just amazing to listen to/watch the games this year. I even took off work yesterday figuring that I would see the end of the women's competition resolved in the two game match between Zatonskih and Abrahamyan. I should have known better!

I thought I couldn't see anymore excitement in the women's matches than yesterday. I was wrong. Today it was even crazier! I'm surprised I didn't have heart failure listening to these games and trying to catch snatches of the board action while at the office today! It came down to the final Armageddon game to decide the 2011 Women's Champion. Congratulations to IM Anna Zatonskih, who must be exhausted and running only on adrenaline at this point, after playing 19 straight games without a break! I sincerely hope that Tatev Abrahamyan is not too disappointed. This is the second year in a row she has finished in second place. She's been knocking at the door. Perhaps next year she'll bring a war engine to the Women's Championship and blow that damn door to smithereens.

We wish there were more than one Fighting Chess Award but, alas, there is only one. Therefore, in honor of Irina Krush, who greatly impressed with her five-game winning streak and clear first in the preliminary round-robin part of the Championship, and in honor of the never-say-die spirit exemplified in the chess of Tatev Abrahamyan and Anna Zatonskih throughout the entire championship series, we have donated $100 in each of their names to 9Queens.

Yesterday's play-off action between Zatonskih and Abrahamyan:

Our thanks to our judge, GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, who helped us out despite her busy schedule - indeed, she was playing in tournaments in Russia during most of the U.S. Women's Chess Championship!

ROME – Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu, the outspoken beauty who served as South Vietnam's unofficial first lady early on in the Vietnam War and earned the nickname "Dragon Lady" for her harsh criticism of protesting Buddhist monks and communist sympathizers, has died at age 86, a Rome funeral home said Wednesday.

She died on Easter Sunday in a Rome hospital. The Gualandri funeral home said she was registered as Tran Le Xuan, her original Vietnamese name, meaning "Beautiful Spring."

Madame Nhu lived in the former presidential palace in South Vietnam's capital, Saigon, with her husband, the powerful head of the secret police, and his bachelor brother, President Ngo Dinh Diem, who served from 1955 to 1963. She took on the role of first lady as U.S.-backed South Vietnam fought northern communist forces before Washington broadened its military effort.

In the early 1960s, the trendsetting Madame Nhu was often photographed with her bouffant hairdo and glamorous clothes, including a tight version of the traditional silk tunic known as the ao dai, which showcased her slender body. She was equally well known for her fiery rhetoric, and was particularly outspoken against Buddhist monks who were setting themselves on fire to protest Diem's crackdown — once saying she would "clap hands at seeing another monk barbecue show, for one cannot be responsible for the madness of others."

Her Buddhist father, Tran Van Chuong, who was serving as the South Vietnamese ambassador to the U.S., resigned in protest as did her mother, Nam-Tran Chuong, who was South Vietnam's permanent observer to the United Nations.

Madame Nhu later called her father "a coward."

She was in the United States on a speaking tour on Nov. 1, 1963, when her husband, Ngo Dinh Nhu, was killed along with Diem in a U.S.-backed coup, ending his eight-year rule.

Madame Nhu went into exile in Italy and remained in Europe until her death, living a reclusive life in which she left her home only to attend Mass, according to family friend Thu Phu Truong of Seattle.

"When you hear the news one of your friends or relatives passes away, you are probably very sad. In this case, I am kind of joyful," Truong told The Associated Press. "When her husband was killed, she was away, and she lived by herself ... for what? She is waiting for the day she can be reunited with her husband."

Saigon, now called Ho Chi Minh City, fell to the communists on April 30, 1975 when tanks rolled into the city, reunifying the country.

Madame Nhu had been raised Buddhist in Hanoi by well-off and highly influential aristocratic parents, but she converted to Catholicism in 1943 when she married Nhu, who was nearly twice her age. She remained deeply religious until her death, Truong said.

In 1986, her brother was charged with strangling their elderly father and mother in their Washington, D.C. house. He was found incompetent to stand trial and deported to France.

She issued a rare statement to The Associated Press at the time of the deaths, saying: "After what has been done against Vietnam, my country, my people and my family by the U.S.A., without it having ever contemplated reparation and without the West intervening on behalf of justice and truth as taught to it through the Messianic message, I do not recognize (their) right to question and judge any of mine."

Her villa in the countryside on the outskirts of Rome included a chapel with a statue of the Virgin Mary.

In Orange County, California, home to the largest population of Vietnamese outside the country, Auxiliary Bishop Dominic M. Luong said he met Madame Nhu in Paris a few years ago and was struck by her devotion to the church, which likely intensified after realizing her life in South Vietnam was over.

"She finally realized it was a lost cause, she probably chose the religious way of life to get at peace with her mind and her political desire," Luong said. "She was a very, very interesting woman, very intelligent."

Luong asked Orange County's flourishing community of Vietnamese Catholics to pray for Nhu during Mass on Tuesday morning and the diocese issued a statement about her death.

Orange County's "Little Saigon" is home to thousands of Vietnamese refugees who fled to the U.S. after U.S.-backed Saigon fell to northern Communist forces.

"It's another turning of a page of history," said Tony Lam, a former city councilman in the Orange County town of Westminster. "Madame Nhu herself has done a lot of work for the Republic of South Vietnam."

Madame Nhu had four children. Her oldest daughter was killed in a 1967 car crash.

When Phiona Mutesi saw a chess board for the first time, five years ago, all she wanted to do was touch the pieces.
﻿

Phiona Mutesi

Then 10 years old, she was taught chess by a six-year-old girl, like her visiting a charity project for children in the slums of Uganda's capital, Kampala. "When I play my former teacher now, I always win," Phiona says and chuckles.

Those first improvised lessons set Phiona on the path to become a chess prodigy: At 15, she is her country's No 2 and the top woman player in the under-20 category - a title she has held for three consecutive years.

Last year, she travelled to Siberia to compete in the World Chess Olympiad.

And she has helped change the public's perception of chess and who in Uganda should play it.

Having grown up in Kampala's Katwe slum, Phiona never expected to succeed in anything, let alone travel abroad.

Her family's poverty forced her to leave school and sell food in the streets.

When Phiona dropped in at a project run by the Christian charity Sports Outreach Institute, coach Robert Katende was still unsure if chess could capture the imagination of slum children.

Should every child be made to play chess?
"We were running a soccer project, but some children were just not interested," Mr Katende told the BBC World Service.

"I wondered how I could get those kids involved, and because I had a chessboard and knew how to play chess, I gave it a try."

"I did have my doubts, because you do have to make an effort to learn chess," the 28-year-old added.

First time abroad
"These are kids who have never been to school, they are in a bad state, living below the poverty line," Mr Katende said. "They are so desperate, and many of them are orphaned."

Now playing chess has become almost a status symbol, not least because the children and teenagers get to travel to competitions.

When Phiona travelled outside Uganda for the first time, it was for a regional children's competition in South Sudan in 2009, with 16 African nations taking part.

"I was very nervous, because I had never been abroad and also met new players," Phiona told the BBC.

She won all her games. So did her teammates - two boys from the slums.

The trio also won the team championship.

Benjamin Mukumbya, one of the boys who competed in Juba, says chess has changed him.

"I used to be stubborn and would not listen to people's advice," said the 14-year-old, who is Uganda's under-16 champion.

"Now I listen, and I pick out what will help me."

He added that he also finds it easier to make plans and stick to them, "for example when I plan to read my books".

Phiona, who has just finished primary school, also said playing chess had helped her to plan ahead and persevere with her studies, "especially with mathematics".

More young players
Having watched some of his protegees make "amazing" progress and become more confident, Mr Katende is convinced that "skills acquired on the chess board can be transferred into the daily life of a slum kid".

"For me the the magic of chess is that you become like a prophet, seeing things that are ahead. You think of solutions for challenges to come, and when they come you have a remedy for each."

I know they are still struggling, but not the same as five years' back”

"When you live in a slum, you have to deal with challenges all day long. You wonder what you will eat, what you will drink, where you will sleep, how you will manage."

"That's why chess is a good platform for growth and development."

The Ugandan Chess Federation (UCF) did not agree at first, and Mr Katende had to work hard to persuade them to open the national junior championships for his protegees.

In Uganda, chess was seen as a sport only suitable for educated professionals and successful students.

"The Federation said the competition was for children at school, and some of these kids were not attending classes," the coach said. "But the UCF agreed in the end."

Now UCF General Secretary Godfrey Gali is glad his organisation listened to Mr Katende.

The number of under-20 players in Uganda has risen by 40% in the last few years, Mr Gali said.

He attributed the rise to the success stories of players like Phiona and Benjamin, "who have put a lot of time in to train, have put all their energy into it".

"Other young people also see that chess might open up opportunities to travel, and that makes it more exciting."

Mr Gali believes Phiona is only at the beginning of an international career as a chess player. But he worries that she might not receive the support she needs in order to make it all the way.

"It's really about opportunity. She has the capacity and she has the talent," Mr Gali said.

"The problem is that in Uganda a sport like chess is considered a past-time, and there is no money to build up and support champions."

When thinking about the events of the last few years, Mr Katende still wonders if he is dreaming.

"I look at the situation and ask myself: 'How can this be true?'," he said.

"I am so encouraged by the children's determination. I look at where they came from and the life they lead now. I know they are still struggling, but not the same as five years' back."

Fireworks yet to come! Shankland and Hess drew their second game today and so will face off in an Armageddon game this evening at 5:00 p.m. They are battling for 3rd and 4th places.

The two men left battling for the U.S. Championship title, Gata Kamsky and Yury Shulman, are locked in battle at the moment. Shulman has white but it seems Kamsky with the black pieces has equalized the position at the moment, not a good signfor Shulman.

In the U.S. Women's Chess, which I am most interested in, had Irina Krush drawing Game 2 of the finals with Camilla Baginskaite and securing 3rd place for herself, along with a spot in the - something - World Cup? Not sure, but what exactly because it's a FIDE thing that may - or may not - take place. I think it has something to do with the women's world chess championship cycle but not sure, don't quote me on that. Krush finished her tournament with a whopping 8 wins, including 5 in a row during the first round-robin part of play, 4 losses, and 2 draws.

The battle for the Women's title is ongoing between Abrhaamyan and Zatonskih. Stay tuned...

Now only the women are battling for their title and it's a slow slog. Zatonskih (white) and Abrahamyan (black) are only on move 19 with 26 minutes v. 29 minutes on their respective clocks (G 90 time control with increment).

And starting at 5:00 p.m. Central Time, Shankland and Hess will play their Armageddon play-off game to determine 3rd and 4th places and prize money. Stay tuned...

In the Women's Game 2 for the Championship title, Abrahamyan seems to have fallen somewhat behind the 8-ball -- in other words, not a good position. We'll see. I've seen her dig and dig and dig in prior games (and Championships) to pull out games like this. But then, so has Zatonskih!

Stay tuned...

5:38 p.m.

Shankland wins over Hess in the Armageddon play-off and takes 3rd place! They actually played some chess moves I could understand :) Guess that doesn't say too much for them though, does it. LOL! I'm a "go for it, baby" chess player, no apologies. I appreciate seeing that same kind of attitude on the boards of the young bucks :)

Tomorrow that means the ladies face off at NOON central time. They will play two games in abbreviated time and if both of those games end in draws, the final dreaded Armageddon game with bidding for black with draw odds.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

I just happened across a link to a blast from the past earlier today when I was looking for the latest chess news. Lisa Lane was U.S. Women's Chess Champion in 1959, 1960 and co-champion with Gisela Gresser in 1966, and was one of the best female chessplayers of her day.

I cropped this article from google news. It was published in The Calgary Herald on January 3, 1962. The page contains links to three other archived newspaper articles on the same subject from the same time period (January 3-5, 1962).

Lane seemed surprised that her reason for withdrawing from Hastings was deemed newsworthy: I would rather not answer any more questions. There has been an awful lot of publicity that I really did not want. Ottawa Citizen, January 4, 1962.

Keep in mind that Lisa Lane evidently never learned how to deal well with losing chess games (I can sympathize). After going through a grueling candidates' tournament in Yugoslavia at the end of 1961 (30 days worth of chess) and then going right to Hastings, she was worn out and pissed off about her results in Yugoslavia. Hastings wasn't going well. I'll bet she was saying to herself what the hell am I doing here playing this silly-ass game for peanuts when everything I want it back in New York? She wasn't the first young chessplayer to think moving on away from chess might be the best thing to do -- GM-elect Sam Shankland made an emotional announcement some months back that he was going to quit chess too -- and then he went on to earn his final GM norm (it needs only to be formally acknowledged by FIDE, the international chess federation, at its next quarterly meeting) and he made it into the final four of this year's U.S. Chess Championship.

So, what happened? Did Lisa Lane ever get together with the man she so publicly admitted to loving?
This Wikipedia article says that Lisa Lane did, indeed, marry Neil Hickey - in 1962. She quit playing chess after the 1966 U.S. Women's Chess Championship and, as far as I know, hasn't played a game in competition since. Lane, still married to Neil Hickey at the time, gave a telephone interview to Jennifer Shahade when Shahade was preparing her book Chess Bitch for publication (2005). Lane didn't have any regrets about walking away from chess, though at the time she still closely followed the women in the game.

Lane walked away from chess, but Shahade writes "Lisa Lane had a relatively short career on the professional circuit, but her wild ways, tough-luck history, and glamorous lifestyle made an impression on girls and women who read about her in the press."

Kamsky defeated Shulman with white. Shulman will be fighting for a win in Game 2 tomorrow to force play-offs.

The game between Abrahamyan with white and Zatonskih with black started out with some interesting moves by Tatev where she sacrificed a pawn, but her position fizzled slowly but surely - did she misplay something? Commentator Maurice Ashley thought what she was playing had been thoroughly prepared beforehand and that she did, indeed, misplay something -- or else Zatonskih pulled out a move somewhere along the line that Tatev just had not been ready for! Just before I left the office the thought was that Tatev was playing for a draw, which would be a good result! And as it turns out, she and Zatonskih did agree to a draw.

In the "consolation" games to determine 3rd and 4th places and prize money:

* Shankland and Hess drew their game today. That means unless one of them scores a win tomorrow they'll go to play-offs and, if necessary, an Armegeddon match.

* Camilla Baginskaite had the white pieces today against Irina Krush but she was not able to muster much of a charge against Krush and Krush took the point - but not without some excitement near the end of the game! Baginskaite will need to score a win tomorrow in order to force play-offs.

Photo image from the article. Warning: I don't know if this is real, as it did
not bear any caption. It could be an image from someone else's impressive tomb.
I'm impressed by the "inverted pyramid" construction. Fascinating.

﻿ Beijing: China has unearthed evidences pointing towards an unknown kingdom of Xizhou dynasty dating back to 1046 to 771 B.C. from newly found tombs in the country's northern Shanxi province.

Epigraph on bronze wares from the tombs indicated the region was reigned by Ba Bo, or Count of Ba Kingdom, archaeologists who excavated the Dahekou Tomb in Shanxi's Linfen City said.

But Ba Kingdom had never been seen in any historical record before, according to reports.

"The tombs gave us a chance to see the Ba Kingdom that had been forgotten by history. It also sheds light on Xizhou dynasty's feudal system, technology and use of hardware as well as exchanges and integration of different ethnic groups of that time," said Wang Wei, head of the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

"Records of the kingdom might have been lost in the long history. It is also possible that Ba was among a cluster of small kingdoms and was neglected by ancient historians," said Xie Yaoting, deputy head of Shanxi Institute of Archaeology.

Another controversy in the world of archaelogy, and the positions are strongly entrenched and heated, baby!

Analysis of cave bear remains tend to confirm that the drawings therein are between 32,000 to 30,000 years before present old! That is an incredibly ancient date. But you know, not out of line with, for instance, the "Venus of Willendorf" carving discovered in a cave in Germany that is about 27,000 years old. The drawings in Lascaux Cave that date to around 17,000 to 14,000 BCE are "young" by comparison. So, stay tuned, this controversy ain't gonna go away any time soon.

Too modern for its time? I don't think so but then,
what do I know? Is that a horsey in the background?

EXPLORING a gorge in south-east France in 1994 for prehistoric artefacts, Jean-Marie Chauvet hit the jackpot. After squeezing through a narrow passage, he found himself in a hidden cavern, the walls of which were covered with paintings of animals.

But dating the beautiful images - which featured in Werner Herzog's recent documentary film Cave of Forgotten Dreams - has led to an ugly spat between archaeologists. Could the bones of cave bears settle the debate?

Within a year of Chauvet's discovery, radiocarbon dating suggested the images were between 30,000 and 32,000 years old, making them almost twice the age of the famous Lascaux cave art in south-west France (see map). The result "polarised the archaeological world", says Andrew Lawson, a freelance archaeologist based in Salisbury, UK.

Lawson accepts the radiocarbon findings. "Nowhere else in western Europe do we know of sophisticated art this early," he says. But Paul Pettitt of the University of Sheffield, UK, is adamant that the paintings cannot be that old. The dating study doesn't stand up, he claims, insisting that the paintings' advanced style is enough to mark them as recent. To suggest otherwise, he says, would be like claiming to have found "a Renaissance painting in a Roman villa".

Despite a comprehensive radiocarbon study published in 2001 that seemed to confirm that the paintings were indeed 30,000 years old (Nature, DOI: 10.1038/35097160), Pettitt and his colleagues were unconvinced. Two years later they argued that the cave walls were still chemically active, so the radiocarbon dating could have been thrown out by changes over the millennia to the pigments used to create the paintings (Antiquity, vol 77, p 134).

To try to settle the controversy, Jean-Marc Elalouf of the Institute of Biology and Technology in Saclay, France, and his team have turned to the remains of cave bears. Along with mammoths and other huge mammals, cave bears (Ursus spelaeus) dominated the European landscape until the end of the last ice age.

The Chauvet cave contains several depictions of cave bears, and Elalouf argues that these must have been painted while the bears still thrived in the area. To pin down when the bears disappeared, his team collected 38 samples of cave bear remains in the Chauvet cave and analysed their mitochondrial DNA.

They found that almost all the samples were genetically similar, suggesting the cave bear population was small, isolated and therefore vulnerable. Radiocarbon dating showed the samples were all between 37,000 and 29,000 years old, hinting that by the end of that period they were extinct, at least locally. Samples from a nearby cave, Deux-Ouvertures, gave similar results (Journal of Archaeological Science, DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2011.03.033).

Given the age of the cave bear remains, "it is clear that the paintings are very ancient", says Elalouf. Michael Knapp of the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, who also studies cave bears, says he has no doubts about the DNA analysis.

While we do not know exactly when cave bears became extinct, all reliably dated remains in Europe are at least 24,000 years old, says Martina Pacher of the Commission of Quaternary Research in Vienna, Austria. "So the results at Chauvet are not surprising, and I agree with their conclusions," she says.

"We now have an independent line of evidence that the bears [in Chauvet] date to before 29,000 years ago," Lawson says. "That bolsters the case for an early date."

Pettitt remains unconvinced, calling the new research "sloppy". He says that the team is trying to extrapolate the regional spread of the bears over time by relying on evidence from just two caves.

Pettitt also questions whether the paintings show cave bears at all: brown bears lived in the area long after the cave bears were gone. But Elalouf says the two species can be distinguished by skull shape, and that the paintings definitely show cave bears.

First game: Krush, who was winning, somehow looses her thread, allowing Zatonskih back in the game. And then, in a mutual time scramble and with both commentators Ashley and Shahade saying the game is a dead draw, Zatonskih with black somehow ends up with two pawns that could march down the board. Krush blew it! Krush resigns, losing with the white pieces.

Meanwhile, Hess and Shulman worked to another draw, as the game see-sawed back and forth; finally, neither player could get an advantage.

And in the other women's game, Abrahamyan dominates the middle and end games and gets a win.

More play-off action coming up later; right now the players are resting up for Game 2. Zatonskih and Abrahamyan have a huge advantage with their respective wins; now Krush and Baginskaite will be fighting for their lives!

Updated 4:13 p.m.

Krush defeats Zatonskih with the black pieces, forcing an Armegeddon play-off in about 15 minutes. The players will blind bid minutes for black with draw odds; the loser of this process gets white pieces with 45 minutes.

Tatev Abrahamyan defeated Camille Baginskaite with the black pieces and she moves to the final! That's my girl!

Young gun Robert Hess lost with black to Yuri Shulman, who will now face Gata Kamsky in the final match. Tomorrow Hess will play another young gun, Sam Shankland, for third and fourth place money.

Updated 7:29 p.m.

Anna Zatonskih bid low - 26 minutes? - something like that - for black and draw odds. Krush bid 45 minutes! She automatically won white. Ensued a very interesting game that had it's share of "blunders" except when you're playing under time pressure and against a basically equal-strength player what are "blunders?"

In the end, Zatonskih was playing for the win and achieved a very good position against which Krush could engender no meaningful counterplay, although to give her credit, she did try! Krush resigned when Anna still had nearly 8 minutes left on her clock, and she had 3 minutes and change. She had lost all of her time advantage and her position on the board was hopeless. She was already down two pawns and would probably have lost another if she had continued to play.

AND SO, it is Tatev Abrahamyan and Anna Zatonskih vying for the Women's Championship title starting tomorrow!

I know this will sound totally unbelievable, but as I was packing up to leave the office shortly before 5 p.m. local time the Armageddon game between Irina and Anna was still going on, and I knew it would be decided by the time I got home. I just had a gut feeling that Anna was going to win. And so she did. Sometimes those gut feelings are valid -- but sometimes, not :)

Thanks for the videos, St. Louis. I was able to speed through it to the point where I'd left off (more or less) and watch the rest of the game unfold while sipping a glass of wine in the comfort of my own home.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Congratulations to GM Alexandra Kosteniuk on her victory - actually, victories - see the news below about her performance in the Russian Team Chess Championships!

I just visited her chess blog and saw the news! Her win of the Russian Women's Blitz Chess Championship has not been individually linked yet so here's the final standings table from the blog entry (after 14 rounds):

Name

1

GM

Kosteniuk Alexandra

2503

11.0

2

WGM

Gunina Valentina

2472

10.5

3

IM

Bodnaruk Anastasia

2423

9.0

4

IM

Zaiatz Elena

2426

9.0

5

WIM

Ambartsumova Karina

2308

8.5

6

IM

Turova Irina

2428

8.0

7

WGM

Kovanova Baira

2376

8.0

8

WIM

Tomilova Elena

2315

8.0

9

IM

Galliamova Alisa

2497

7.5

10

IM

Romanko Marina

2402

7.5

11

WIM

Fominykh Maria

2303

7.5

12

Sukhareva Evgeniya

2180

7.5

13

WGM

Kashlinskaya Alina

2320

7.0

14

IM

Vasilevich Irina

2324

7.0

15

WIM

Novikova Anna

2240

7.0

16

WGM

Pogonina Natalija

2446

6.5

17

WFM

Kabanova Ekaterina

2190

6.5

18

WGM

Girya Olga

2425

6.0

19

WFM

Semenova Elena

2170

6.0

20

WGM

Shaydullina Sandugach

2178

5.5

21

Chan Naruna

1754

4.5

22

Gubernatorova Lyudmila

2266

4.0

23

WFM

Kostrikina Anna

2067

3.0

24

Sukhareva Valentina

1936

3.0

This comes on top of the earlier news today that the women's team Kosteniuk played on took top place in the Russian Team Championships and Kosteniuk took top individual honors among the women.

The Russian Team and Blitz Championships were held in Olginka, Krasnodar, Russia April 11 - 23, 2011. The SHSM-RSCU (Moscow) women's team was composed of Alexandra Kosteniuk, Valentina Gunina, Marina Romanko, Olga Girya, and Alina Kashlinskaya.

Kosteniuk's individual performance rating in the Team Championships was 2746. Here is the table for the women's individual performances (team):

Name

ELO

Club

Pts.

1

GM

Kosteniuk Alexandra

2503

SHSM - RSCU

85.7

7

1

2

IM

Munguntuul Batkhuyag

2434

"Giprorechtrans"

85.7

7

2

3

WGM

Kashlinskaya Alina

2320

SHSM - RSCU

80.0

5

4

4

IM

Turova Irina

2428

Rook

78.6

7

4

5

IM

Zaiatz Elena

2426

"Giprorechtrans"

71.4

7

3

6

GM

Stefanova Antoaneta

2523

ABC

70.0

5

1

7

IM

Vasilevich Irina

2324

"Giprorechtrans"

70.0

5

4

8

WGM

Gunina Valentina

2472

SHSM - RSCU

66.7

6

2

9

IM

Muzychuk Mariya

2476

ABC

66.7

3

3

10

WGM

Pogonina Natalija

2446

ABC

64.3

7

2

11

WIM

Novikova Anna

2240

Polytechnic

64.3

7

3

12

IM

Gaponenko Inna

2435

Rook

64.3

7

3

13

GM

Cmilyte Viktorija

2526

SPbShF

60.0

5

1

14

GM

Lahno Kateryna

2531

ABC

58.3

6

1

15

IM

Bodnaruk Anastasia

2423

SPbShF

57.1

7

3

16

IM

Galliamova Alisa

2497

Rook

50.0

7

1

17

WGM

Nebolsina Vera

2305

"Ugra"

50.0

7

1

18

WGM

Girya Olga

2425

SHSM - RSCU

50.0

4

3

19

WFM

Gileva Irina

2133

Polytechnic

50.0

2

4

20

WIM

Fominykh Maria

2303

"Giprorechtrans"

50.0

2

4

21

WIM

Ivkina Olga

2289

Club im.M.I.Chigorina

42.9

7

2

22

WGM

Kovanova Baira

2376

SPbShF

42.9

7

4

23

WFM

Kabanova Ekaterina

2190

"Ugra"

41.7

6

3

24

IM

Atalik Ekaterina

2444

SPbShF

40.0

5

2

25

WFM

Rassokhina Ekaterina

2055

Polytechnic

40.0

5

4

26

GM

Socko Monika

2495

SPbShF

37.5

4

1

27

GM

Zhukova Natalia

2443

"Giprorechtrans"

35.7

7

1

28

IM

Ovod Evgenija

2405

Club im.M.I.Chigorina

35.7

7

1

29

WIM

Kharashuta Ekaterina

2270

Polytechnic

35.7

7

2

30

WIM

Bronnikova Elizaveta

2251

Club im.M.I.Chigorina

35.7

7

3

31

WGM

Savina Anastasia

2383

ABC

35.7

7

4

32

IM

Romanko Marina

2402

SHSM - RSCU

33.3

6

2

33

WIM

Tomilova Elena

2315

Polytechnic

28.6

7

1

34

WGM

Paikidze Nazi

2425

Rook

28.6

7

2

35

WIM

Gromova Iulia

2214

Club im.M.I.Chigorina

28.6

7

4

36

WGM

Iljushina Olga

2352

"Ugra"

25.0

6

1

37

WIM

Bezgodova Svetlana

2147

"Ugra"

20.0

5

2

38

Yakupova Aysyla

2115

"Ugra"

12.5

4

4

Outstanding!

Next up for GM Kosteniuk is an appearance at the National Scholastics in Nashville, Tennessee (USA) April 29 - 30, 2011.

GM Kosteniuk is Goddesschess' judge for the Fighting Chess Award in the 2011 U.S. Women's Chess Championship currently taking place in St. Louis, Missouri (USA) at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis (a/k/a the St. Louis Chess Club in popular jargon). The Championship has taken some unexpected turns. Who will the winner ultimately be? And who will win the Goddesschess Fighting Chess Award?

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"Advanced Chess" Leon 2002

About Me

I'm one of the founders of Goddesschess, which went online May 6, 1999. I earned an under-graduate degree in history and economics going to college part-time nights, weekends and summer school while working full-time, and went on to earn a post-graduate degree (J.D.) I love the challenge of research, and spend my spare time reading and writing about my favorite subjects, travelling and working in my gardens. My family and my friends are most important in my life. For the second half of my life, I'm focusing on "doable" things to help local chess initiatives, starting in my own home town. And I'm experiencing a sort of personal "Renaissance" that is leaving me rather breathless...